Tumbling Rock at Lizard Point

Those down at the Most Southerly Point last Friday would have witnessed an enthralling scene of excitement and danger as tonnes of rock were dislodged and sent careering down the cliff to smash and rumble on the slipway 50m below.

The sustained heavy rain has caused a number of land slips along the lizard coast over the last few months, the most worrying being at Lizard Point. The slip consisted of dozens of tons of rock and occurred on the cliff between the car park and the slipway. As soon as the slip occurred, the area was fenced off and contractors were called in to make the area safe as there was still a lot of loose rock ready to fall.

So last Friday, Simon and Matt from Kernow Maintenance Services (KMS) abseiled down the cliff armed with a crowbar and spade with the aim to dislodge any loose rock in a controlled way and make it safe for the future. It’s a good thing that Simon and Matt aren’t afraid of heights as they were literally hanging by a thread 50m above the slipway levering off rock after rock. They were suspended on their ropes for hours and dislodged several tons in that time, to the excitement of many onlookers.

We're waiting for the verdict of a specialist engineer, but are hoping that we can soon start to reopen the area. Once we're give the all clear, the dislodged stone will be removed and put to good use on walling, footpath and access work. Please in the meantime, keep a safe distance away.

To see a video of the rock fall like us on facebook and follow http://www.facebook.com/NTLizardandPenrose?fref=ts  to see how we maintain your countryside day to day!

Thanks for reading!

Ed Walker

Trainee Ranger, Lizard.

A Bumper Year at Lizard Wireless Station

 

The station equipment in the 1900s, faithfully recreated today

We must say a big thank you to all our dedicated volunteers at the Lizard Wireless Station. As a result of their fantastic efforts 2012 was our busiest ever season, with 3000 visitors popping by to learn more about the fascinating history of these unassuming black huts. The wireless museum, perched high on the cliffs over looking Housel Bay and the Lizard Lighthouse, opened to the public in 2001, in time to celebrate the centenary of the station, which was established by Marconi as an experimental wireless telegraphy site. In January 1901 the station received a message from the Isle of Wight, proving beyond all doubt that the curvature of the earth was no limit to the new technology which was championed by the ambitious young Gugleilmo Marconi. Just 11 months later, nearby Poldhu communicated with Canada, and the world had suddenly shrunk!

Early 1900s- today's mast is not so tall!

The radio station became a holiday chalet after WW2, and the National Trust bought it in a dilapidated state in the mid 1990s, and restored it to its original appearance from period photos. From its beginnings in 2001, the museum has been entirely dependent upon a dedicated band of volunteer stewards, who give their afternoons to opening up the station and sharing its history with visitors. 2012 has been a bumper year, thanks to them. Amongst their ranks are old hands who have been with us since the start, and 5 new recruits who have increased our numbers, allowing us to open up to 6 days per week in summer.

As well as being a busy year for visitors, the station has continued to attract media interest. Radio 6 breakfast DJ Sean Keaveny came to stay in the adjoining holiday cottage 'Wireless Cottage' in the Spring, writing a piece for the Guardian about his adventures in radio history. Listen out for a feature with our volunteer John on Radio 3 this month, about sound, wireless and space travel!

If you've not had a look in, then do stop by to see what's so special about these little huts. We're only open Sundays 1-3pm in winter, weather permitting, but we'll increase our opening from Easter. Wireless Cottage can be rented year round through www.nationaltrustcottages.co.uk

Here's to another bumper summer season!

Rachel

A Natural Christmas at Penrose

Despite a few heavy down pours visitors to Penrose were able to pop in and create their very own wreath made out of things collected by rangers from the estate. Including willow, dogwood, ivy and holly 

Everyone was having a great time and it got even better when mulled wine and mince pies were served warmed on the camp fire!

There were also oppotunities to make home made wrapping paper with potato prints and mulled wine saches, as you can imagine the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg as well as chritmas songs made the atmosphere very festive!

Some people made candle stick holders and other things using the greenery

We also made a very long paperchain out of sweet wrappers, it was over two metres!

Thank you to everyone that came despite the hit and miss weather look out for this event next year!

Merry Christmas :)

Rosie

It never rains it pours!

We hope everyone has been out and about enjoying the cold crisp winter sunshine over the last few days, a bit of a change from the heavy rain! The Lizard didn’t escape the recent extreme weather that caused major flooding across the south west, and over the last couple of weeks National Trust staff and volunteers have been out and about checking and dealing with dangerous trees, blocked drains and damaged footpaths.

With the help of contractors, damaged and hung up trees in the woods at Tremayne have been cleared so they are no longer a danger to walkers. This has had the added bonus of providing lots of firewood!

On the footpaths around Poltesco, Church Cove, Tremayne and Lizard the water running down the paths was too much for the drains, and a lot of stone and sediment was dislodged leaving waterlogged paths with lots of holes, but the worst of it is now sorted with freshly rodded drains, replaced stone and some new culverts!

 

Perhaps the most dramatic and urgent of the storm damage was structural dammage to the coast path around Lizard and Inglewidden. There has been a significant landslip above Polpeor Cove where we have cordoned off a section of the road. We also temporarily diverted the coast path behind the Devil’s Frying Pan last week due to a crack that appeared in the path. However, yesterday a geologist inspected the site and said that the path there was not in danger of subsiding so it has now been reopened.

We’ll keep a close eye on all these sites over the winter, but if anyone has any questions or information or would like to find out about any of our work in the area, give us a call on 01326 291174.

Loe Bar overflow pipes!

The water level in Loe Pool reached a dangerous height this week after all the heavy rained that we had. The Enviroment Agency (who manage the water level of the pool) put in a series of pipes over the weekend to try and ease the pressure on the permenant overflow pipe. As the risk that Helston could flood was a possibility.


                                    

The three metal pipes are in sections to cope with the contours of the sand and travel from the pool to the sea on the western end of the beach.

The pool, which is the largest natural lake in Cornwall, has this week been one metre higher than normal, meaning that both the reed beds and bird hide have been flooded!

We also saw a pretty rainbow!

Winter holiday for Poltesco ponies

Our herd of seven hardy ponies have been doing a great job grazing the cliffs between Poltesco and Cadgwith over the last few months, opening up valuable habitat for rare plants on the rocky outcrops. However, today it was time for them to move on to pastures new at their winter grazing site at Chynhalls Point near Coverack. First thing in the morning, we ran them down off the cliffs, past Carleon House and into the Poltesco car park (with a little help from some tasty pony nuts as bribery!). There we met Mike the farrier who trimmed their hooves and assured us they were in good condition for a winter out on the cliffs. It then took four of us two journeys with the stock trailer and a few more pony nuts to transport the herd to Chynhalls, where they seemed very happy to have a new place to explore and lots of fresh grass to munch!

At their new site, the herd will be checked daily by NT staff and the volunteer stock checking group, however, if you have any questions or notice any problems, please call the Lizard rangers on 01326 291174.

We know a lot of people enjoyed seeing the ponies at Poltesco – don’t worry , they’ll be back next summer - or you could always go and pay them a visit at their winter retreat!

Beth